The date of your trade show is quickly approaching, so how much time will be necessary to order that promotional product? Every manufacturer's lead time (production time) is different - some items can be produced in as little as 24 hours, and some items take up to 30 days. As soon as you make your decision on what product you would like to order, you need to get the process rolling, even if it's just to plan out the timing. If you are within 30 days of your "event," time will be of the essence.
Here's what will happen when you place your order. You and your promotional products professional will agree on a price (usually in writing via a contract or order form that you sign) that includes all applicable charges - cost of the item, imprint charges, setup charges, proof charges, shipping costs and any applicable taxes. You agree on the form of payment (we'll discuss this in more detail later), and the dealer accepts your order for production. You submit your artwork and you sit back and wait for the item to be delivered. Time covered so far - 24 to 48 hours.
Then, your dealer will submit the order to the appropriate factory or wholesale distributor. There are many methods of doing this - each factory has it's own preferable way - and they vary from good old snail mail to form completion on a website. Most will use the tried and true fax machine for order acceptance. And don't forget the artwork - most factories will accept artwork submitted by electronic methods (email or website submission), but there is the occasional factory that still accepts artwork only by mail (I ran into one of those last week). This process should also take 24 to 48 hours, or up to 5 days if art is submitted by mail. On average, the time it takes for your order to get to the factory is around 3 days.
OK, the factory has your order - what happens next? Since most promotional products are imprinted using a silkscreen methos, I'll describe the steps involved in that process (I'm not a silkscreen factory, so if I'm not 100% accurate in my descriptions, please forgive me). I won't get into the materials involved, since there are hundreds of options. I'll assume the artwork was submitted by email, and requires a one-color imprint.
The factory will open your art file, and check it to make sure it meets their requirements as "camera-ready." They will check the size to make sure it will fit properly on the item, and they will check the detail of the art to make sure it won't fill in or run together when the print is made. Next, they will print out the art on clear acetate, or "film." They will use this film to produce the screen. The screen is painted with a light sensitive emulsion, similar to what's on photographic film stock. The acetate print of your art is laid over the top of the screen, and then they expose the screen to light, which sensitizes the part of the emulsion that's not a part of your art, so that only that part that is your art washes away when the screen is rinsed. This leaves an opening where ink can be forced through the screen and onto the item that's being printed. That description is probably an over-simplification, but for our purposes, it will be sufficient. Anyway, from artwork opening to packing and boxing will take 7 to 10 days on average. Let's say 9 days, so our example order has taken 12 days so far.
Now the factory places your order in the hands of their favorite freight carrier. It leaves the dock, and is on the way to you. The most cost-effective method of shipment is via ground carrier, either UPS or Fedex, and those are the most common methods of shipment. Don't forget to take into consideration the location of the factory - if you're in California and the factory is in upstate New York, it's going to take at least five days for your shipment to arrive. Average ship time is about 3 days, so we've gone 15 days so far.
So it's the 8th of January, and my tradeshow starts on the 23rd, so there should be no problem, right? Wrong - the 15 days we've discussed so far are working days, Monday through Friday. Weekends don't count. So by 15 days, we're talking 3 weeks. If you placed your order on January 8th, your order (using our example above) probably won't be delivered until close to February.
All this is to get you to think about your order and the time involved to produce it. There are ways to speed up the process (factory rushes, expedited shipping), but it will cost you extra to utilize them. Other options such as production samples and additional colors/locations of your imprint will lengthen the process. Make sure you get started early enough to where you don't have to worry. 30 days in advance of your event date will usually be a comfortable lead time for all involved.
Payment Considerations
I'll keep this part short. If you're an established company with a good credit rating, a government agency, or an institution of higher learning, you can usually get Net 30 terms on promotional product purchases. Everybody else pays in advance, via credit card or check. As far as returns, unless the factory screwed up the imprint or sent the wrong item, it's not likely you'll be able to return them. Remember, you ain't buying a VCR at Best Buys. These items are custom produced - it's like buying a tailored suit, they just won't fit anybody else. However, if the factory agrees to ship the item prior to a specific date, and they miss it, you won't be held responsible for that.
One other item to cover, and you may have seen this in the "terms and conditions" section on websites or catalogs, is over-runs and under-runs. The imprinting business is not an exact science. Factories plan to screw up a certain percentage of the items that they imprint, so when they pull the blank items out for your order, they will start with a certain percentage over the amount you ordered (usually 5%), and then they'll turn the machine on and let 'em rip. They print the whole batch and then cull out the ones that are messed up, hoping they print exactly the right amount. Unfortunately, they don't usually come out right on the money, so you end up with an over-run or under-run on your order. You'll only pay for the amount you receive, so as long as you understand this process up front, you won't be startled when you're billed for 212 koozies (but I only ordered 200!).
I hope you understand the process of buying promotional products a little better now.
Phillip Baker, CAS, is a 29 year veteran of advertising and marketing and is an expert in promotional products, integrated marketing and advertising consulting. He can be reached at 850 995 9557. Visit http://www.bakercreativeadvertising.com to enter to win $1,000 in promotional products or subscribe to the free Marketing Magik newsletter and podcast.